Entrepreneurism Admired

I admire creative people who can think of an easier way to do something and create a business out it. Even though the economy is struggling, there is always opportunity to find a better way. Sometimes it is simply improving what already exists, such as a vacuum cleaner or fan. That is why I found this article about James Dyson very interesting: Bold Designs for Humble Items.

There hasn’t been much talk these days about small business, but maybe politicians should think about ways to help the entrepreneurs start businesses and succeed. They could increase incentives and funding, and could lower taxes for small businesses. Wouldn’t this in the long run set the stage for a strong recovery, restore our trade competitiveness, and create more jobs?

The research from a few years ago seems to indicate it: “Small firms (employing less than 500 employees): Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms, employ about half of all private sector employees, pay nearly 45 percent of total U.S. private payroll, have generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually over the last decade, create more than half of non-farm private gross domestic product (GDP), hire 40 percent of high-tech workers (such as scientists, engineers, and computer workers), are 52 percent home-based and 2 percent franchises, made up 97.3 percent of all identified exporters and produced 28.9 percent of the known export value in FY 2006, produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms; these patents are twice as likely as large firm patents to be among the one percent most cited.”

Source: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census and International Trade Administration; Advocacy-funded research by Kathryn Kobe, 2007 (sba.gov/advo/research/rs299tot.pdf) and CHI Research, 2003 (sba.gov/advo/research/rs225tot.pdf); Federal Procurement Data System; U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics”